


Family First

by say_no_more



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: A/U, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, F/M, Harry Potter/Twilight Crossover, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2020-08-13 01:15:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20165716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_no_more/pseuds/say_no_more
Summary: It's spring break and Chief Charlie Swan is on call. All is quiet in Forks, but Charlie has been called to assist the Quileute tribal police in dealing with some pale-faces trespassing in La Push. It was nothing unusual - Charlie had arrested dozens of stupid kids for doing all sorts of stupid things. Idiots getting high and having fun while on break was nothing new - if anyone had asked him when he'd first joined the police, he NEVER would thought that breaking up a drum circle would one day be commonplace and even a bit boring.Charlie received a call while dealing with the situation. The caller ID says it's his nephew, but Charlie had spoken to Harry only a few hours before and their conversation had been routine. Now, it was the midnight hour in England and it was a woman on the other end of the line.The woman said Harry was hurt and that Charlie could help.Charlie Swan and James Potter are half brothers, and when Charlie's nephew, Harry, needs a safe place to stay while recovering from an injury, Charlie insists Harry stay with him and Bella in Forks. Charlie only hopes Bella can handle the strangeness which is their family, especially when she was just getting over her first breakup.





	1. a not so normal night

It was just after 7:00P.M. and Charlie was only on the Rez because the individuals involved in the disorderly conduct call weren’t Quileute. When he arrived at the scene, Officer Michael Tasi was standing near his SUV and watching the offenders with an unimpressed stare. 

Charlie could imagine why the young man was thin-lipped and uninterested in approaching the group. "A drum circle?" Charlie incredulously asked as he came to stand beside the younger man.

“We would have been more appreciative of the gesture if they’d been using actual drums,” Officer Tasi dryly replied. Michael was one of the youngest members of the reservation police and he was also Charlie's favorite person to team up with when he had business on the Rez. Charlie appreciated the man's calm composure in tense situations and his sarcastic quips outside of work.

Charlie sighed and looked over the offenders. They were kids, hardly older than Bella and obviously high out of their minds. The metal trash cans littering their impromptu campsite - which was _ not _ located on or even _near_ the reservation's designated camping grounds - had clearly taken a beating. So trespassing, camping without a permit, _and_ the destruction of private property would be tacked onto the drug charges.

Charlie had been saying it for years, but calls like these were what reinforced his insistence that _Spring break and summer vacation shouldn't exist_. 

While he was speaking with Officer Tasi, the kids' behavior had escalated and they had started adding nonsensical and highly offensive chanting to their banging. As Officer Tasi became visibly more incredulous and offended, Charlie set to work breaking up the party before anyone ended up with reputations as racists _and_ druggies, rather than only druggies. Also, Charlie didn't want to arrest a tribal officer for aggravated battery that evening. 

It was nearly half an hour before everyone was calmed down and starting to sober up. A few individuals were still giggly and air headed, but others were beginning to realize their actions and behaviors. 

With the situation in hand, Charlie realized that in all of the ruckus he hadn’t heard his phone going off.

Frowning, Charlie pulled the cell from his pocket. 

“Trouble, Chief Swan?” Officer Tasi asked - they worked together often enough for the younger man to know that Charlie never spent time on his phone when he was on the job, not even when the work was particularly boring. 

“I’ve missed some calls from Harry - he's tried to call five times in the last ten minutes,” Charlie saw. 

Officer Tasi immediately went on guard. “Something going on with the Clearwaters?”

“What? No, no. Not Harry Clearwater - _my nephew_ Harry. I spoke to him a few hours ago and it’s… it’s 3:30 in the morning where he is right now. I’m sorry, Michael, but I need to-”

Tasi was already motioning for him to go ahead. 

With a grateful nod, Charlie strode away from Tasi and the people they were arresting, dialing Harry’s number as soon as he was out of earshot. 

He knew something was wrong. Charlie spoke to his nephew often, and even though Harry glossed over the going-ons of the British magical community whenever they chatted… Charlie had never been in any doubt that Harry was always in danger. 

Sure enough, when the call connected it was a _woman _who answered the phone.

“Is this Charlie?” she asked by way of greeting, her voice trembling. “You’re Harry’s uncle, right?”

“That’s right,” Charlie said, suppressing his growing panic with deep inhalations and exhales. Within an instant, Charlie was arming himself with every lesson on _ calm _ and _ in charge _ that he’d learned during his career in law enforcement. “Who is this, and where is Harry?”

“I - I’m Hermione. Harry’s my friend,” the woman replied, her voice hitching as she attempted to repress her own emotions and stay calm.

_ Hermione_. It was a name Charlie knew well. Harry talked about his friends constantly, and Hermione was one of his bests. Charlie had been sitting on the edge of his seat for _ years _waiting to hear Harry announce that he had finally, finally, _ finally _ manned up and kissed the girl and that they were officially dating. Instead, Harry had announced that he had manned up and kissed a boy named Cedric Diggory.

With a deep breath and a firm reminder to himself to _ focus_, Charlie asked again, “And Harry?”

“He’s hurt. Death Eaters attacked the Leaky, and… he’s hurt. They've managed to get into alley and the battle's moved that way, but who knows how long it will be before some of them come back - and - we tried calling for help but there are other attacks happening in other places - there are Death Eaters _everywhere_, and Harry’s hurt, he needs help, but we've run out of-”

“Do you have access to a chimney?” Charlie firmly interrupted. 

“Y-you’re connected to the floo?” the young woman breathed.

“That’s right. I've got an ocean-cross connection. Can you get Harry to a chimney?”

“Yes! What’s the address?”

“Washington, Left Fork. How soon can you get here?”

“We'll be half an hour at the least, if we're lucky. We’ll have to smuggle him out of the Leaky and get him stabalized-”

“Will you bring the medicine - I mean, will you bring the _potions_ he’ll need? I don’t know how to find the magical areas of Seattle-”

“We've got someone who can treat him, but he doesn't have a safe place for us to go and he _certainly_ can't come here-”

_ He’ll be okay_, Charlie fervently insisted to himself as he said, “Good, Hermione. Get him here.”

“We will,” she shakily replied.

Ending the call, Charlie took a deep, fortifying breath, then another, and then he started back towards Officer Tasi and the cruisers. 

“Chief Swan?” the man asked as Charlie came near.

“I’m sorry, Michael, but I need to go. I’ll radio Bucharat and have her pick up this lot, but I need to-”

“Go,” the man commanded with a nod. “I’m fine, and in a few hours these idiots will be, too. _ Go_.”

Charlie wasn’t good with words at the best of times, and now? Instead of saying _ thank you _ like he probably should have, Charlie held Tasi’s eyes and gave him a firm, grateful nod before stepping into his cruiser and starting towards Forks.

He was halfway to his home when he remembered _ Bella. Shit. _

Fumbling for his cell, he dialed Bella’s number. When he was asked to leave a voicemail, Charlie called Billy instead.

“Hey, Brother,” Billy cheerfully greeted when he answered his phone. “Do you need the council’s help with that noise complaint after all?”

“Is Bella at your place?” Charlie responded.

“Bella? Charlie… She and Jake went to Port Angeles for a movie. Didn't she tell you she was going?”

Port Angeles. With Jake, Jessica, Angela, and all of the other people she was attempting to reconnect with now that she'd gotten her head out of that Cullen boy's ass. 

“Right. Sorry, I forgot. I’ll try her cell.”

“Wait, what’s going-”

Ending the call, Charlie tried calling his daughter again. His only solace was that when his calls connected, he was actually listening to a ringtone instead of going strait to voicemail, so her phone was on and _hopefully_ she would get the message and step out of the theater for a call. 

He had to call five times before Bella answered, but eventually she did just that.

“Dad?” she quietly asked, her uncertainly audible - Bella was as accustomed to Charlie blowing up her phone as Charlie was accustomed to Harry blowing up his, so he wasn't surprised that she sounded freaked out before he'd even started talking to her.

“Bella, where are you?”

“I just got home. Mike was sick and Jacob was acting really weird, so we decided to head home early. Although I think Jake might have caught-”

“You’re at the house?” Charlie repeated even as pressed his foot more firmly to the gas pedal and contemplated turning on his lights and sirens so that he could get away with going 60 in a residential neighborhood.

“I just got back,” Bella confirmed. “Charlie, what’s wrong?”

“I’ll explain everything when I get there,” Charlie promised. “Just… Bella? I need for you to listen to me and do as I say. Can you do that?”

“I might?" she uncertainly replied. "What do you want me to do?"

“I need for you to clean out the fireplace. Remove the grate, take down that holly Sue put up last Christmas, get rid of those candles you like to set in there… And then you need to light a fire. Get some firewood from behind the shed, and there’s lighter fluid under the grill. After you have a fire going, move as much of the furniture as you can to the edges of the room. Light a fire in the fireplace, then get everything as far from the fireplace as you can.”

“Dad?” Bella quietly responded. Then, she told him, “You’re scaring me.”

“Bella, light a fire and clear out the living room," he slowly repeated. "Can you do that?"

“I - yes.”

“Then do it. I’ll be home in ten minutes and I’ll explain what I can, I promise.”

* * *

“I thought you didn’t know who your father was,” Bella murmured as she watched her father frantically move furniture around the living room, clearing space in the middle of the room. 

She’d managed to get a fire going in the hearth and she'd gotten the coffee table and Charlie's recliner pushed against the wall, but when Charlie arrived home, he'd taken one glance at the cheery little fire burning away and he turned around, went outside, and went around the house to the back. Behind the shed, he grabbed as much firewood as he could carry.

Bella had always thought the hearth and chimney were a little... disproportionate to the rest of the house. The grate was tall enough for a grown man to stand in, and the mantel took nearly all of the living room's far wall. And Bella's fire in that huge hearth? It was tiny - she'd only put a match to two logs, but when Charley came in from outside, the threw everything he was carrying into the hearth, and then he made a second trip. By the time he returned to the house with another armful of wood, Bella had started going around the house and opening the windows, because the fire was already massive and it was already making the entire house sweltering hot.

Now she was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, watching with wide eyes as Charlie finished relocating the couch and began to spread blankets and sheets across the floor in front of the fireplace.

“My mother didn’t track him down until I was almost seven,” Charlie explained. “It was difficult because my father was British, but also because…. Bella, this is going to sound crazy, and you’re going to think I’m insane, but please just... listen to me and try to trust me… Magic exists. It’s real.”

“What?!” Bella squeaked, her eyes going impossibly wide and the blood draining from her face.

“Magic is real,” Charlie firmly and confidently repeated. “Part of the reason my mother had such a difficult time tracking down my father was because he was British and he lived in England, and the rest of the reason she had such a difficult time of it was because he was a wizard living in a magical wizarding community. If he didn't do business with non-magical people from time-to-time, she never would have found him. When she went to tell him about me, she found that my father had recently gotten married - to a witch - and they were expecting a child of their own. My little brother, James. Your cousin is _his_ son, Harry. And Harry... This entire situation is incredibly complicated, but right now Harry's hurt. He can’t be taken to a hospital so his friends are bringing him here.”

“W-why didn’t you ever tell me about any of this?” Bella gaped. 

Honestly, she wasn't sure she believed him - Charlie, _her father Charlie_, who was one of the most normal, most boring people in the world (especially in comparison with Bella's wild-child mother) - Charlie didn't have _magic_ in his life! If he did, he wouldn't resign himself to spending his days dealing with speeding motorists and the occasional drunk and disorderly call. He wouldn't plop down in his recliner at the end of the day and immerse himself in television and sports. _Fishing_ wouldn't be his most exciting past-time. He wouldn't live in this hum-drum house or this hum-drum town or-

When Charlie replied to Bella's question, his eyes were dark and solemn as he firmly informed her, "The less you knew about all of it, the better. Wizarding England is a dangerous place and it has been for a very, very long time. You've never met your cousin and I never told you anything about him for your safety," shaking his head, Charlie returned to his task while bitterly muttering, "Harry should have come to live with me after my brother was killed. But circumstances… didn’t allow it, at the time.”

“So he’s… he's coming to stay with us _ now _?” Bella tentatively asked. She was trying to wrap her head around the fact that she had family - a _lot_ of family, apparently - who Bella had never even heard of before. She'd never had aunts or uncles, cousins or grandparents or- This was almost as hard to wrap her head around as the fact that _Charlie_ was involved with _magic_ \- a kind of magic she had never encountered before, even!

“He’s been hurt,” Charlie curtly stated in response to her question. “His friends are bringing him through the floo - wizards are able to travel from one fireplace to another if both have been spelled properly - and Harry's going to need medical attention when he gets here.”

With a shaky breath, Bella said, “O-okay. What do you need me to do?”

* * *

Charlie released a long, heavy sigh. He couldn’t _ believe _ that it was that easy.

_ Honey, we’re related to people who can do magic, and your injured wizard-cousin is dropping by the house via magic chimney travel_.

_ Okay, Dad! How can I help? _

Vaguely, in a quiet place at the back of his mind which wasn't consumed with worry for his nephew, Charlie noted that Bella’s reaction to his announcement was the most unbelievable thing which had happened so far that evening.

“Honestly, Bella, I think it would be best if you stayed out of the way," Charlie told his daughter. "I don’t know what kind of injuries Harry has, and I’m not sure I want you to have to see… If Harry stays, he’ll have to stay in my room while he's recuperating. Go upstairs and change the sheets off my bed. Make sure we have an extra toothbrush and towel for him in the bathroom and-”

Bella nodded and stood to hurry up the stairs. However, she’d barely gone two steps before the fire in the grate suddenly roared and the massive flames doubled in size and turned green.

Turning, Charlie watched in horror as his nephew, who Charlie hadn’t seen since he was a baby, tumbled out of the fire along with a red headed man and a bushy haired woman, all of them covered in blood.

“Bella, out!” Charlie snapped even as he rushed forward to help the two support Harry while they lowered him to lie atop the blankets piled on the floor. 

“Put pressure on the wound,” the woman, Hermione, instructed. “Proffessor Snape will be here in a few minutes - if anyone has a counterspell for a curse like this, it will be him . We only have to-”

What followed was one of the longest nights of Charlie Swan’s life.


	2. wizards arrive in Forks

When tears began to blur her vision, Bella hastily pulled her Chevy to the shoulder of the road and angrily swiped at her eyes, cursing herself for falling apart when she was needed the most.

“Get a grip!” Bella hissed to herself. “You have a job to do!”

She couldn’t stop her hiccuping breaths no matter how hard she willed herself to be calm, though - it simply wasn’t fair. She had family, _ a cousin_, who she’d never even known about, and now that she _did_ know about him, he was bleeding out on her living room floor.

_ Advanced version of the spell_, the dark, intimidating, unkind Englishman had angrily muttered when whatever magic he was using failed to properly close the wounds slashed across Harry’s sides and stomach. _He can’t drink another vial of blood replenishing potion. _

Bella jumped in her seat when there was a sharp knock at the driver’s side window. When she turned to see who had found her crying on the side of the road, Bella felt a spike of delight pierce through her fear and sorrow for a moment.

“You alright?” Embry asked, his voice raised loud enough to be heard through the window. He was looking at Bella like she was insane, but Embry was the one standing in the road without shoes or a shirt in the middle of the night.

Fumbling to push her door open, as soon as she could reach him Bella snatched at Embry’s arm and began to pull him into the truck.

“Bella?” the younger - bigger - teen asked with a bemused smile even as his brows furrowed in concern while she urged him to get behind the wheel of her truck. “Bella, what’s wrong?”

_ “Everything,_” she hiccuped as she scooted over to the passenger seat - Embry responded to her prompting to get behind the wheel of her truck without protest regardless of the fact he didn't have his license yet and wasn't old enough to drive. “We have to get to Sue Clearwater’s house,” Bella urged.

Blinking in confusion, Embry asked, “Why do you need-”

“_Drive_, Embry!” Bella snapped, because it was bad enough that she'd lost so much time to her panic already.

With a jerk at her unusually forceful behavior, Embry put his foot to the gas pedal and the Chevy jerked into motion. “Bella, what is going on?” Embry asked even as he did as Bella asked and put his foot to the gas pedal, pulling back onto the road and headed for the Clearwaters' place. “Michael Tasi said Charlie was called away from a call for a family emergency, and Billy said Charlie called the house looking for you - what’s happening? Is everything okay?”

“No,” Bella sniffed. “Charlie said that Sue does a lot of that holistic healing stuff? She has an herb garden and medicinal plants?”

“Yeah,” Embry said slowly. “Who… who’s hurt?”

Bella almost choked on the words simply because they were so _ strange _ to say. “My cousin, Harry. His blood isn’t clotting or something? They can’t… they can’t get him to stop bleeding.”

“Well shit,” Embry said flatly. 

It spoke to life on the reservation when he reacted to Bella's proclamation by urging the truck to go faster rather than asking, _ Why haven't you taken him to the hospital?_

* * *

By the time Embry and Bella returned to the Swan residence, Harry and his friends had _ thankfully _ been moved off of the living room floor and upstairs into Charlie’s room.

The detritus of her cousin's arrival in her home was still apparent in the living room, though. She only realized Embry had followed her into the house when he gasped at the sight of blood splattered all over the hearth, the floor, the blankets and sheets laid across the floor, and then dripping up the stairs to the second floor.

“Stay here!” Bella snapped to the younger teen as she took the package of stolen herbs which she had forgotten in her truck and which Embry had apparently grabbed and used as an excuse to come inside. Once her precious loot was once again in her possession, Bella rushed up the stairs.

In Charlie’s room, Bella thought she would find the entire visiting magical contingent present, but she was surprised when only her father and the man who was addressed as "Professor" were in the room with her cousin.

“I got what you needed from Sue’s garden,” she victoriously announced as she entered the room, hurrying to pass off the carefully wrapped herbs which she had stolen (the Clearwaters weren’t home when she arrived. Embry helped). The professor's sigh of relief sounded more aggravated than pleased as he accepted the package from her.

She avoided looking at Harry - the sound of his labored breathing was rather indicative of his condition, and she simply didn't want to see him struggling or in pain.

“Do you have white vinegar in the house?” the man asked, his tone clipped as he opened the bag, put the tip of his wand inside, and then preformed several spells in quick succession.

Bella eagerly nodded.

“Find the largest bowl you have - a clean bucket if you have one- and put everything you have of the vinegar in it. Then, fill the bowl the rest of the way with water, add a spoonful of whole mustard seeds, then soak those leaves in the mixture for ten minutes. After ten minutes, remove the leaves from the bowl. Do not wring them out or wipe them off, avoid the leaves loosing any moisture if you can - then bring the leaves to me.”

Without question, Bella nodded and turned on her heel, hurrying downstairs to do as the man demanded and grateful that she hadn't lost too much time during her break-down while driving to the reservation, grateful that she wasn't too late, and she was grateful to have a new way to help after her last task was complete.

Downstairs, Bella saw that Harry's friends hadn't left the house but had instead taken up the task of cleaning the living room. The blood soaked blankets and sheets which had been laid on the floor were gone and Bella could hear the washing machine running. Embry was helping Harry's redheaded friend roll up the living room rug which was thoroughly ruined, and the pair carried the rug from the house. Harry’s other friend, the girl, waited until they were out of the room and out of sight before sticking the end of her wand into the soapy mixture she was scrubbing the floor with. Instantly, the mixture became frothy, and when the girl returned to scrubbing the floor with a thick-bristle brush, the new mixture had an instant and obvious effect on the cleaning process.

Swallowing down the bile rising in her throat, Bella hurried past them and into the kitchen. She found the vinegar easily enough, but -, “Embry!” she called. “Do you know where I can get whole mustard seeds?” - she could only find powdered mustard in the spice cabinet. 

“I’ll be back in 2 minutes!” Embry yelled from just outside the back door. A moment later, Harry's redheaded friend came inside and went to help the other with the living room floor.

By the time she finished pouring the vinegar and filling her largest mixing bowl with water, Embry had returned. 

“Thanks,” she told him with a shaky breath as she added a spoonful of seed to the mixture, then added the leaves for soaking. She set the timer on the stove, then leaned against the table and watched as the leaves turned dark and slimy. 

When she delivered a heaping bowl of the leaves upstairs, the professor ran a critical eye over the mixture, nodded firmly in approval, then his lips pursed and the already serious man's eyes became dark and solemn as he looked from her, to Charlie, to her cousin, and then back to her.

“You’ll want to leave. The vinegar… The next hour or so will not be pleasant,” he finally stated.

“Bella, downstairs,” Charlie demanded even as he pulled a chair up next to the bed, planted himself in it, and he grasped Harry's hand.

Biting her lip as tears once again began to blur her vision, Bella rushed from the room. She was crying in earnest by the time she got downstairs and Harry began to scream.

“Outside, everyone,” Embry demanded, wrapping one hand around Bella’s arm to keep her upright and placing his other hand on the redhead’s shoulder in order to guide them from the house.

The group had trekked beyond the yard and well into the forest before they were well away from the house and unable to hear the pained cries coming from inside any longer.

His voice thick, the redhead told his bushy-haired friend, “Chin up, ‘mione. Snape won't let anything happen to Harry. Not after… everything.”

“I know,” the woman sniffed. “Just… this was supposed to be over.”

“Maybe a holiday in America is exactly what Harry needs,” the man tonelessly suggested.

“Probably for the best. I’ll have Remus gather his things,” she unenthusiastically agreed.

Blinking up at Embry, it finally occurred to Bella to ask, “What are you doing off the rez? I thought you were one of Uley’s guys now. Why would you help _me?_”

Embry replied with a long sigh. He sounded exhausted when he muttered, “Don’t be like that, Bella. It's bad enough getting flak from Jake and Quill. I’m only trying to help.”


	3. the morning after

The morning after her cousin's abrupt arrival, Bella went into her father’s bedroom to check on Harry and was astonished to find her cousin sitting upright in bed and smiling as he chattered with his friends. What had been a vicious gaping wound across his stomach only hours before appeared to be a years-old scar in the light of the new day, and the other smaller lacerations on his chest and sides had entirely dissapeared. The only indication that the wound was recent was the red, irritated skin around the scar, Harry’s pale complexion, and the dark circles under his unusually green eyes. He looked to have bathed recently and a pair of square glasses now sat crooked on his nose.

His friend, Ron, was sitting at the foot of Charlie’s bed and he was making bawdy jokes about… something magical, Bella assumed. A squid maybe? Was he joking about a squid with an itch? The British, or perhaps only the _ magical _ British, had an unusual sense of humor, Bella decided.

When her older cousin’s eyes fell on her, he sat up a little straighter and a bright smile stretched across his lips. “Bella!” he greeted, his smile wide and genuine and _ pleased _in a way which Bella was unaccustomed to seeing in people, especially when they were looking at her. Harry’s smile lacked the edge of worry and concern which she saw in her father’s smile, and in Jacob’s, and in her teachers and classmates and-

Blinking, Bella asked, “You… know me?” 

Was it a magic thing? Did he just _ know _ about her? Did he receive visions of his family in his dreams? Did he do that scrying thing that she’d heard about? Did he have a magic mirror like the one in _ Beauty and the Beast _ \- because truthfully, Disney movies were Bella’s most reliable source of information on magic.

Bella was almost disappointed when Harry explained, “Charlie talks about you all the time! More than he talks about fishing and football, even.” 

Stepping further into the room and closer to her newly discovered cousin, she asked, “Do you talk to Charlie often?”

Nodding, Harry said, “Every couple of days. This will be my first time actually meeting him, though. He’s made noise about visiting me in England, but… The last few years, my home hasn’t been safe and a visit would have been dangerous. Come in and sit down - Hermione’s gone to pack my things and bring them here for me, and she’ll be bringing breakfast back with her - you haven’t eaten until you’ve had one of Molly Weasley’s pumpkin-butternut squash muffins.”

Hesitantly, Bella did as suggested, surprised that Harry was smiling and laughing and joking around after the events of the evening before. With one last curious glance between Harry and Ron, Bella sat at the edge of Charlie’s bed and started getting to know her cousin.


	4. new guy in the 'hood

Harry Potter was a resilient kid, Charlie found. He never would have guessed that Harry was still in pain a week after Harry came to stay in Forks. 

After his friends helped get him set up in his new room (which had been magically added to the house - it was disconcerting to see a door at the end of the upstairs hallway which should have _ logically _ ended in a fifteen foot drop into the back yard when someone stepped through), Harry saw Ron and Hermione off with a grin and a wave. He moved around Carlie's house with ease, not so much as wincing as he made his way up and down the stairs, cooked in the kitchen, or went to sit outside and catalog the similarity and differences between Forks, Washington and where he'd lived in England. He chattered with Bella constantly, keeping her mind off of her lousy ex-boyfriend with tales of the magical school he’d spent seven years at. He made plans with Charlie to join him on a fishing trip once Harry was feeling up to it, and he asked question after question about Forks, La Push, who Charlie and Bella's friends were, their favorite parts of town - he asked Bella to invite her mother to visit Forks for a few days. Harry also wanted to meet Jacob and Billy Black.

Bella seemed to think that the magic used to heal Harry was instant and infallible. Charlie knew better, however. He knew that Harry’s request that Bella huddle in the living room with him and show him all of the movies which were important in Muggle-American pop culture was really a ploy to stay off his feet and save his energy while he healed. Charlie noticed that Harry mostly ate soft foods - yogurt for breakfast, smoothies for lunch, and soups for dinner; his stomach was hurting him, still. He napped during the day, citing the thick cloud cover and rainy days as the reason for his drousiness (the boy grew up in England, Bella should know better).

Harry healed quickly, though. 

Still, after two weeks, it wasn’t difficult for Charlie to recognize that even though Harry was physically healed, he wasn’t emotionally healed. His smiles were simply _ much _ more convincing than Bella’s. 

* * *

Charlie had been planing a fishing trip with Billy and Harry Clearwater for several weeks, but he almost called it off regardless of the fact that Harry had returned to full health by the time the date of the trip came around - How on Earth was Charlie supposed to explain to two of his oldest friends that he’d had an entire family that he’d never told either of them about before?

When he explained his concerns to Harry, the young man gave Charlie a wry grin and said, “You _can_ tell them the truth. That’s the best thing to do, when explaining magical events to Muggles.”

“The truth?” Charlie asked incredulously. “You're saying I should tell them that my younger brother and his wife were killed by a dark lord, my nephew had to stay with his mother’s family because of magical blood wards instead of coming to live with me _ like he was supposed to_, and he’s only living with me now because he needs to hide out from the mad followers of the man who killed his parents 17 years ago?”

Rolling his eyes, Harry said, “You don’t have to be so _ literal _ about it. But you don’t have to make something up, either. Like, my aunt told people - no. That’s not important. Look, when I say to tell them the truth, I mean… My father wasn’t an auror. He was in law enforcement. And he wasn’t killed by a dark lord. He was killed by the guy in charge of running organized crime in England.”

“And I couldn’t talk about you or contact you for most of your life because you were hidden in a witness protection program,” Charlie finished with a nod as he caught on to what Harry was suggesting.

His expression twisting, Harry asked, “What’s a witness protection program?”

Chuckling, Charlie said, “I forgot how young you were when you started living most of your life in the magical community.”

Shrugging, Harry demanded, “Go. Get out of the house. Spend some time with your friends.”

In the end, Charlie did as Harry suggested, and he was completely unsurprised when he arrived at the lake's marina and his two friends descended on him like gossiping old women.

Using Harry’s method, telling the truth wasn’t difficult at all. 

“Harry will be staying with me for the indefinite future,” Charlie finished after explaining to his friends why he had never told them about his brother and why he wasn't able to acknowledge Harry as his family before that point in time. 

Billy gave a low whistle. “Charlie Swan, made guardian to two teenagers within one year after living ten years alone? I do not envy you, my friend.”

Chuckling, Charlie told them, “Harry’s 18-years-old. He'll be 19 in a few months. He’s had a rough time of it and he's had to grow up fast. He's _also_ had time to grow out of the ‘belligerent teenage angst’ part of being a teenager.”

“Still. Between him and Bella, it sounds like there's a lot of… baggage. Emotional drama,” Harry pressed.

With a thoughtful hum as he set his feet up on the edge of the boat, Charlie told his friends, “Baggage, yes. But Harry… He’s not like other kids his age. He’s been to hell and back, and even though he’s sad a lot of the time, he doesn’t let anything keep him down. He doesn’t _ wallow_, you know?”

Eyebrows raised, Billy asked, “No tears for the girlfriend he left behind in England, then?”

“Boyfriend,” Charlie corrected with a shake of his head. “And no. Harry and Blaise broke up a few months ago when Blaise left England to study at a school in Italy. Harry was very sensible about the whole thing. He doesn't let his relationships, or the lack of relationships, slow him down. And speaking of boyfriends - I’m surprised Jake hasn’t come around the house looking for Bella. She hasn’t visited the rez since Harry moved in.”

“Jake’s feeling under the weather,” Billy told him. “He has mono.”

Charlie gave a sympathetic click of his tongue before returning to his fishing.

* * *

Billy heard the truck a mile away - he didn’t need werewolf senses to hear his old clunker rumbling towards his house.

With a long sigh, Billy braced himself. He’d been expecting this, but he’d _hoped_ that the new addition to the Swan household would provide Bella with a suitable distraction for a while longer - long enough to convince Bella that Jacob felt like she’d abandoned him for her cousin, and that he’d moved on. Or something. Billy was fully aware that _ Jacob _ couldn’t pull off that conversation. Not if he was the one breaking the news to her. But Billy sure could. He _ did not _ like how that girl was leading Jacob on. Not when she was still hung up on a blood sucking monster. 

Billy wrapped himself in uncharitable thoughts, doing his best maintain a stiff spine as he prepared himself to face the daughter of his best friend, his son’s first love, and the little girl who used to delightfully throw mud around his back yard. 

He was therefore surprised when he opened his front door and found a man on his front stoop instead of Bella Swan.

With a grin, the visitor asked, “Billy Black?” with a very distinctly _ British _ accent.

“And you must be Charlie’s nephew,” Billy realized with a nod.

The young man’s answering smile was positively _ brilliant _ as he said, “That’s right. I’m Charlie’s nephew, Harry Potter.”

Billy reached to grasp and shake the hand offered to him. He was surprised at the grip of the young man's hand. It wasn’t uncomfortable or crushing, but there was a strength to it belied by his slender frame. His fingers were calloused, the hands of a worker, and…

“Is that a tattoo?” Billy asked, squinting at what might be words etched into the skin between the boy’s thumb and forefinger.

Harry didn’t flinch. He didn’t jump away or grimace. He gave Billy’s hand one final pump, released his grip, and said, “No.”

A shiver ran down Billy’s spine at the sight of Harry’s unchanged expression. A friendly smile was still stretched across his lips, his shoulders were set in a relaxed slump, and he wasn’t fidgeting at all. But Billy knew that the look in Harry Potter's eyes meant _ Don’t mention it. Really. Don’t. _

Abruptly clearing his throat, Billy asked, “How can I help you?”

“I was making a trip to Sue Clearwater’s house. Apparently, my cousin stole some herbs from her garden a couple of weeks ago, so I made Sue a thank-you-for-not-taking-legal-action-against-my-cousin pie. Charlie mentioned that your son, Jacob, was feeling under the weather, so I dropped by because I thought you might like a little something, too.”

He produced a casserole dish - one of those giant disposable foil ones they sold at the store for large parties and potluck events. As Harry set it in Billy’s hands, Billy realized that the dish was still warm, and it smelled like shepherd's pie, and keeping food in the house had been _ impossible _ since Jacob had transformed. Billy couldn’t remember the last time he'd finished a full meal instead of giving into Jacob’s puppy dog eyes (which were twice as bad since he started turning into an actual wolf) and handing his son half the food on his plate.

Harry Potter was a dangerous man, Billy realized a few moments later. He’d been so enraptured by the sight of a large quantity of real, warm food that he’d barely heard Harry as he said, “Let me help you to the kitchen since your hands are full. You should have yourself a plate now, if you haven’t had lunch yet. It’s chilly out today, and warm shepherd's pie is better than a toasty fire for warming up.”

The next thing he knew, Harry Potter had neatly insinuated himself in Billy’s home and wormed his way into Billy’s heart (thus proving the old adage about food and stomachs and hearts very much true).

* * *

“You must be Charlie’s nephew,” Harry Clearwater said in greeting when he opened his front door and he found an unusually pale pale-face standing on his front stoop.

“Wow, word spreads quickly around here. Or am I that obvious? Do I exude some sort of ‘nephew of Chief Swan’ vibe?” the young man laughingly replied.

“You look quite a bit like him,” the older man replied, and he was startled at how abruptly the young man stopped laughing. “Are you okay?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m… I guess I’m only used to people telling me I look like my father.”

_ Charlie’s dead brother, James_, Harry remembered. Despite the fact that he’d never mentioned the man to his best friends, not even once, it was obvious from the way Charlie spoke of him that the two had been close. Harry remembered Charlie telling him that James had died when his son was only a baby, so the boy would have no memory of the man. 

“Your father and your uncle must have looked alike. You have the same dark hair as Charlie, and the same chin. You lucked out on the nose, though. Dodged a real genetic bullet with that one.”

Chuckling, the young man relaxed a little and said, “I suspect Charlie’s nose came from the maternal side of his family.”

“I’ll be sure to let him know who to blame,” Harry said with a laugh of his own. Once he saw that the younger man was once again in good spirits, he asked, “So what brings you around these parts?”

Shuffling his feet sheepishly, Potter told him, “I came to apologize to your wife on behalf of my cousin. I heard that Sue’s garden was a bit torn up after Bella’s visit. I planned to win Sue’s forgiveness by presenting her with the best serving of shepherd's pie she’d ever tasted, but I made the mistake of stopping by Billy Black’s place, first. I’ve never seen such sad, empty cupboards in all my life, and I wound up giving him all of the food I had, including Sue’s apology gift.”

“I think that alone will win you Sue’s forgiveness. Ever since Jake… got sick… Sue’s been meaning to take some food over to the Black's. She’s been a bit busy, though - she works as the primary midwife here on the reservation, and this is always a busy time of the year for babies. She’ll be relieved to know that she doesn’t need to worry about Billy and Jake getting a proper meal.”

“Good,” the young man sighed. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you tell her that I really am sorry about her garden, and that I’d be happy to help her with any replanting or repair work that needs to be done? I’m a good hand when it comes to gardens.”

“I’ll let her know,” Harry promised.

The young man gave him a grateful nod and a wave, then started back towards Bella’s truck.

Harry frowned as he watched the Englishman get into the car and fumble with the ignition. 

“Do you have a driver’s license?” the older man called.

“It’s not that hard to figure out!” the young man called back. “A twelve-year-old could work one of these things!”

It took Potter several tries, but before long the truck was lurching into motion and the young man was driving away.

With a sigh, Harry went inside to call Charlie.

* * *

“Compared to the last time I drove a car, it was easy!” Harry adamantly argued. “Bella’s truck didn’t fly or argue or _ anything _ when I told it where to go!”

Charlie _ was not _ prepared for this argument. _ It’s illegal _ , he said, to which Harry replied _ So is housing me without registering with the American Magical Embassy _. 

_ It’s dangerous _ , Charlie said. _ So is apparation _, Harry announced.

Bella sat at the table, watching with wide eyes as Charlie was run roughshod by an 18-year-old British wizard who was too smart, too charming, too independent, and too bored to accept that he was in trouble and deserved punishment. And honestly? Charlie had already spent every last ounce of his inherent parenting energy on Bella over the last few months. He didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. Especially not with a legal adult who had been taking care of himself for longer than Charlie had been taking care of his _ actual _ kid. 

With an aggravated sigh, Charlie turned to Bella and asked, “Would you keep an eye on him _ please _?”

Rolling his eyes, Harry clapped Charlie on the shoulder and told him, “Relax, Chief. I know what I’m doing. No one here will figure me out or - or start asking awkward questions. There’s weird, and then there’s _ eccentric _. It’s a fine line, but I’ve spent enough time as a wizard living in the muggle world to know how to walk it. And the whole British thing only adds to my charm. You’d be amazed at the things an English accent will help a person get away with.”

When Bella giggled at this pronouncement, Charlie couldn’t stay angry.


	5. introducing Harry

Harry was formally introduced to the community of La Push during the annual Office Roundup, a mixer involving the Forks and La Push law enforcement community which involved an outing to the beach hosted by the Tribal Police with food and entertainment provided by the Forks Police Department. By then, Harry had been residing with the Swans for almost a month, Charlie had been back to work for two weeks, and he’d explained Harry to everyone who mattered. 

The first rule of Roundup was No Shop Talk. The first rule was usually thrown out around the second hour of the gathering, after beer had been consumed and people were tired of gossiping about their family and friends.

Bella was nervous in crowds, and Harry _ said _ that he felt the same. He didn’t _ seem _ nervous, though. He easily introduced himself to every person who approached him, remembered their names after only a few brief moments of conversation, and he met their awkward, invasive questions with an easy smile.

“This is nothing,” Harry told Bella when they had a few quiet moments to themselves and she asked him about his ease and confidence when he _said _he was uncomfortable. “Questions about why I’ve moved from England and why they’ve never seen me around are easy. Where I’m from, people ask me _ Can I see the scar? _ and _ What does dying feel like? _ This… This is nice. I like that when people here greet me, they don’t instantly remind me of all the most horrible bits of my life.”

Bella couldn’t relate. Every time someone in Forks looked at her, she could see it in their eyes that they were _ really _ looking for the man who was supposed to be standing beside her. When they asked her how she was, they were really asking _ How worthless are you that he left? _ When they asked her about her plans for the future, they were telling her _ Your future is gone. _When they-

“Wait, _ what?!_” Bella hissed. “What do you mean, people _ ask you how it feels to die?_”

Blinking, Harry asked, “Didn’t Charlie tell you? I… The reason I’m famous, the reason people are now trying _ so hard _ to kill me, is that I’ve survived things that no one is supposed to survive. They call me _ The Boy Who Lived_.” With a derisive snort, Harry shook his head and looked away, towards the ocean. “As if I actually had anything to do with it.” 

“Harry, you’ve _ died_?” Bella reiterated, feeling panic rising in her chest - Harry, who blushed whenever he told a dirty joke, whose breath hitched when he laughed, who was warm and soft when they huddled together on the couch - Bella imagined looking into his eyes without seeing so much as a hint of green, and the very idea made her sick to her stomach.

“A couple of times, yeah,” Harry replied with a listless shrug while he watched the party continuing around them. Then, he said, “Wow, do the reservation police carry _ knives _ instead of guns?”

Still shocked, Bella could only trail along as Harry moved to introduce himself to several members of the tribal police. Harry was real smooth about the whole thing, first asking if knives were the common first line of defense for the officers, then asking if they were traditional Quileute knives or something they picked up from nearest hunting supply, then asking for demonstrations on proper knife handling techniques, and before Bella knew it, she was watching as several officers patiently showed Harry how to hold the ancient knives which had been passed down through their families and then encouraged him to throw the knives at trees.

“Wicked!” Harry laughed when he managed to get one to stick in the bark.

* * *

Bella found it a little unsettling that Harry got along so well with _ Mike Newton_, of all people.

“_Why?"_ she pressed when she found out that Harry was headed over to Newton’s place for a game of touch football. “He’s so…”

“Average? Normal? Ordinary?" Harry guessed. “I know! Isn’t he great?! He’s like the Muggle-American version of Ron. Now stop moping about the house and get dressed. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“You want me to play football _with_ you?” Bella asked incredulously. “You know that I’m a bit of a walking accident, right?”

Rolling his eyes, Harry told her, “If you’re not going to play, then come to cheer me on. If nothing else, you can laugh at me while I embarrass myself in front of all of your friends.” When she didn’t acquiesce quickly enough, Harry jabbed a finger in her side, making her squeak. “Hop to, cuz. You wouldn’t want me to go solo.”

“Why not? You seem to be finding your way around town well enough on your own,” Bella groused, bitter than Harry seemed to be settling in and getting comfortable with the community far more quickly than she had when she first moved to Forks.

“Yeah, but I’m a stranger in a strange land, Bella. All of these new American customs are so strange, and the dos and don’ts are so hard to keep straight. I might, I don’t know, say something which would _ embarrass _you.” 

Gaping at her cousin, Bella asked, “Are you _ blackmailing _ me?”

“Of course not,” Harry told her. “I’m just encouraging you to… assist me with my assimilation to the strange new culture I’ve found myself living in.”

Huffing, Bella went to find her shoes.

* * *

“She hasn’t called at all?” Jacob asked his father despondently.

“Not in the past week,” Billy confirmed as he helped Emily toss the salad. “She’s been pretty busy with her cousin, though. Charlie says the guy’s a handful.”

“You’re not supposed to be talking to her anyways, idiot,” Embry cheerfully reminded him as he snuck chips from the bowls Jared and Kim were preparing. 

“Don’t bug Charlie about her, either,” Harry Clearwater called from the back yard where he and Sam were grilling enough meat to feed half the rez (and _ maybe _ five werewolves).

“Yeah, yeah,” Jacob spitefully grumbled. 

“If you’re going to pout like a lovesick ten-year-old girl, get the fuck away from me,” Paul demanded before Jacob could slouch next to him on the couch. “This is the first semi-normal thing we’ve gotten to do since any of us have phased, and I’m not going to let you ruin it with your swooning.” 

Billy frowned at Paul but refrained from saying anything because he secretly agreed. _ All _ of their lives had been uprooted during the last year, and Paul, especially, had it rough. The boy’s father may have stopped drinking after the incident when Paul was ten, but not even keeping off the bottle could make Benjamine Lahote a good or kind man. Paul had spent _ years _ cultivating a support structure for himself comprised of his peers, only to be forced to stop speaking or interacting with them due to his lack of control when he began phasing.

The other boys’ stories weren’t much better. They _ deserved _ an afternoon of normalcy. 

And Charlie deserved a few moments of normalcy, as well. Billy and Harry almost hadn’t invited the man, since the entire pack would be present in the Black house to watch the game that afternoon. Jake and Bella’s relationship seemed to be fizzling out without outside assistance, though, and Harry had reported that the last time he spoke with Charlie over the phone, the man hadn’t sounded like he was doing well. Harry thought their friend needed some time on the rez.

Billy was nervous that his pale-face friend would ask questions about the… dramatic growth spurts which had occurred in Jacob and the other teenage boys in La Push, but it wasn’t like they could hide it from Charlie forever, and the sooner the changes in the boys were normalized, the sooner they could regain some semblance of a normal life. So Charlie was invited to watch some good old fashioned baseball with the pack.

When Charlie arrived at Billy’s house, he didn’t so much as _ glance _ at the pack as he grabbed a beer from the fridge and some chicken wings from the grill before plopping himself down on one of the recliners with a long, drawn out sigh.

Eyebrows raised, Billy asked, “Were you on call last night? Get into a fight with one of your perps?”

“My nephew,” Charlie corrected as he tentatively poked at his black eye. “A word of warning - Never wake up Harry when he’s having a nightmare.”

“He hit you?” Billy asked, his mouth pulling into a thin line.

“He _ attacked _ me,” Charlie corrected. “Took him ten minutes to realize where he was and who I was, another hour to calm him down, then an hour after _ that _ to calm Bella down. Christ, what a night,” the man finished with a sigh as his head fell back on the couch.

“Wait, is this _ Harry Potter _ you’re talking about?” Kim asked from her place beside Jared. “I’ve met him - he’s really nice. I can't imagine him attacking _anyone_ for _anything_.”

“He thought I was someone else,” Charlie explained. “When he woke up from his nightmare, he didn’t _ actually _ wake up. He just… started defending himself from a threat that wasn’t there.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Sam asked, his brows furrowed.

Charlie listlessly shrugged. “This is the first time something like this has happened since he came to stay with us - Harry said his night terrors don’t happen often, so I _ assume _ he’ll be fine, but… ugh. The kid is driving me insane,” Charlie finally groaned.

“What?” Harry Clearwater asked, concerned. “What do you mean?”

“I _ never _ know whether he’s okay or not. Not even when he’s smiling and laughing and goofing off. With Bella, you can tell when she’s faking a smile. But with Harry? I’m never sure. All of this second guessing myself and constantly _ worrying _ about him is exhausting.”

Billy set a bracing hand on Charlie’s shoulder, wishing that there was something he could do to help his friend. 


	6. from the eyes of a wolf

Paul was patrolling the northern border, but he heard Bella Swan’s janky old pickup-

_ Jacob isn’t phased right now_, Sam reminded him. _ He can’t hear you insulting him OR his work_.

-headed into the reservation from the southeast through Jared’s ears.

_ Nose Goes_, Jared declared.

_ That only counts when you have a finger to put on your nose, _ Paul reminded him. _ We can play the wolfy version, though, where I bite your snout off and you have to keep an eye on the leech lover with a broken nose and blood all over- _

_ They’re headed west_, Sam interrupted before Paul could get really gross. Both of the other wolves saw Paul’s vivid imagining of Jared with half of his face torn off, anyways. Kinda like Emily, really, except Paul would use his teeth instead of his claws and- _ For fuck’s sake, Paul. Just for that, you’re on Swan duty for however long she’s here. And NO, I don’t care that you’ve already been patrolling for seven hours and that you haven’t eaten and that you’re now imagining tearing me, and her, and the truck Jacob built for her to pieces. I also don’t care if she’s in La Push for a minute, an hour, or a day. You’re responsible for her! _

Paul gawfed in annoyance but didn’t fly into a rage like Sam probably wanted him to - he’d been using the Babysit Bella Swan card as a punishment far too often lately, and Paul was growing desensitized to the useless fucking chore. Although he did manage to sneak in the _ best _ naps when he was supposed to be looking after the Swan residence-

_ Paul, do you take ANYTHING seriously? _ Jared snarled.

_ She didn’t turn off onto the road to Jacob’s place _ , Sam announced, even though they already _ knew_. No one needed to make stupid, useless announcements when they were all already in each other’s heads - _ I think she’s headed to First Beach. Don’t get too close, don’t- _

_ -make any noise, don’t get too far away, don’t do anything to fuck with her or scare her, don’t get distracted by a fucking squirrel, don’t do anything fun - I know your stupid rules, Sam. We all know your stupid rules. Just concentrate on hanging around town and stalking your fucking fiancee while she grocery shops and stop bothering the rest of us. _

_ I wish I could stalk Kim, _ Jared mourned.

Paul would have rolled his eyes if he hadn’t been running so fast that doing so probably would have resulted in his smashing full speed into a tree between one second and the next. And people thought that _ he _ was the sick one. If only they saw what sweet teddy-bear Jared and sweet mousy Kim got up to in the bedroom-

_ Don’t_, Sam groaned/demanded.

_ Boring as logs during day-to-day conversation, both of them, and into weird-as-fuck puppy play in the bedroom- _

_ JARED, PHASE! NOW! _ Sam Alpha Ordered. _ NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT! Dammit, Paul. We were up to 14 on the Days Without Seeing Jared’s Fucked Up Sex Life counter. _

Paul was particularly proud of that one. Before he'd had to quit his job, he’d stolen it from the warehouse he worked at where it was originally used to count the days between workplace accidents. 

And why the fuck would Swan want to go to the beach today? It was raining, and cold, and the waves were choppy. If he’d still been only human, Paul would have actively avoided the beach on a day like this.

-_ wants to gaze out over the waves and pretend that her vampiric Fabio is on the other side of the ocean gazing in her direction as well- _

_ Christ, Paul. You get romantic at the weirdest times. Why don’t you talk like this to the women you go to bed with? _

_ -like how Embry gazes at signs advertising all-you-can-eat buffets- _

Sam sighed internally, and externally, and the resulting sensation was like someone blowing air into his ear so strongly that he could feel it in the brain tissue right behind his eyes-

Paul skidded to a hard stop at the edge of the public parking lot for First Beach. Swan’s ugly ass Chevy was the only vehicle there, and Paul could hear the faint voices of two people conversing as they headed down the beach in the misty, drizzly rain. Paul was on them in moments, safely hidden from human eyes within the treeline but able to see and hear them perfectly-

_ Not the crunchy peanut butter, I hate crunchy peanut butter - Hell yes! She remembered! She really does love me- _

Sending the mental equivalent of a swift kick to the balls Sam’s way, Paul tried to focus on what Bella and - Paul recognized him as Harry Potter, Charlie’s nephew - were saying. The pair walked together down the beach, Bella’s arm looped through her cousin’s in some attempt to keep upright as she walked - _ because even doing something like walking was too monumentally complicated and dangerous for her _ \- and they spoke to each other in low tones.

“-did you want to come here so much?” the Englishman was asking his younger cousin. Paul had never heard a British accent in real life, and it made his ears twitch.

“I don’t know. I guess it’s just that… this is the kind of day that… that _ he _ would have spent with me, together and out in the open and… these kinds of days are the worst, because everything reminds me of him but… But here? He never came to this place with me. So even though the day itself feels like _ him_, at least there's someplace I can go where he never actually was. There’s nothing here that belongs to _ him_, you know?”

Paul hated it when he was right. It was too bad that Swan wasn’t alone, though. If she’d been alone, her tortured longing would have been of the _ gazing across oceans _ variety, rather than the _ audible torture _ variety, as it was now. 

And now, for Act 2. Enter the loving cousin, dotting on the girl he saw as his baby sister, a wounded bird that he adored and longed to protect. _ I will be the pillar you lean upon in your weakness- _

_ Seriously, Paul. Where do you come up with this shit? _

_ -until the time that you are able to spread your wings and once again sore upon the wind and- _

“Honestly, Bella? You sound like a crazy person right now.”

Paul was so startled by the frank, unimpressed statement that he almost walked face first into a _ No Camping _ signpost. 

Blinking rapidly as if it was the rain falling into his eyes which was somehow affecting his hearing, Paul listened to the man say, “Seriously. That speech was almost identical to the one you gave me when I asked why you weren’t eating your breakfast the other day. Who exactly was this guy? And what about him was so great that he was able to create an emotional bond between you and a bowl of Frosted Flakes?”

“He - Harry, I loved him.”

“You’ve never even told me his _ name_. We’ve lived together for weeks, and for how much I’ve heard you talk about him, you never actually _ say _ anything about him, Bella. It’s weird.” 

“You don’t understand. I loved him-”

“I understand perfectly. I’ve lost people I loved. I lost a _ boyfriend _ that I loved.”

“You… really? He… he left you?”

“No. He was murdered. Did _ he _ leave you?”

“I… Yes… Several months ago. He said… he said he didn’t want me anymore, and then he and his family left…”

“He told you that and then left? Several months ago, and you’re still - Bella, that’s a completely _ asshole _ thing for someone to do. He told you he _ didn’t want you_, and now months later you’re still moping around and crying all the time and - Aren’t you angry?”

Swan seemed mortified and offended by the very _ suggestion_. “Angry? At Edw- at _ him_? No! Of course not! It was _my_ fault, I wasn’t good enough-”

“He said that to you?”

“No. I- it’s not. It’s not the same,” she uselessly stuttered. “I mean… Were you angry at your boyfriend when _he_ died?”

“_Y__es!_” Potter snapped. “Cedric was young, and beautiful, and amazing - not just amazing to me, but to _ everybody_. He had the best scores in his class, he was captain of the Quidditch team, a prefect - he was literally the _ perfect person_, and he was going to do _amazing_ things after school. And I loved him more than anything. But he was 17-years-old when he died. And yeah, I missed him after it happened - I _ still _ miss him like crazy - but every now and again… I’m not proud of it, but yeah, every now and again I get angry at him. He stepped in front of a blow meant for me. I had to watch him die _ because _ of me. And it isn’t rational, but sometimes I get angry at him for that. He may have been murdered, but it _ felt _ like he had abandoned me. So I think it’s really freaking weird that you aren’t angry at someone that actually _ did _ abandon you. Now come on, tell me about this guy so I can understand what it was about him that has you so twisted up. _ Please_.”

The pair stopped walking, and Paul saw that the girl was shivering and clutching at her stomach like if she let go, her skin would split open and all of her insides would fall out-

_ Dude. Sick, _ Sam supplied.

“Come on, Cuz. This is _ me_. You can tell me _ anything, y_ou _ know _ that.”

_ Do you think she’s actually going to tell him? _Sam asked, finally managing to pull his attention away from watching Emily’s ass as she loaded groceries into her car.

With a deep, shaky breath, Swan muttered, “H-he - his family. The Cullens. They were vampires.” 

_ Holy - I can’t believe she actually admitted to- _

_ For fucks sake, Sam, shut up and let me listen! _ Paul demanded, as if he wouldn’t be able to hear every word the pale faces were saying even with Sam babbling inside his head.

Paul waited with bated breath - Would her cousin laugh? Would he declare that he was sending her off to a white room now that he had _ proof _ that she was crazy? Would he-

“What _ kind _ of vampires?” he asked suspiciously. 

“I don't... There are different _kinds_?” Swan asked, her brown eyes wide as she looked up at her cousin.

“Yeah. Were they the kind of vampires who were only active at night? Were they the kind of vampires whose eyes went black and they grew fangs when they fed? Were they the kind of vampires whose blood had healing properties if you drank it? Or were they the kind of vampires that sparkle in sunlight?”

Her mouth opening and closing a few times, she finally managed to stutter, “Th-they were the kind that s-sparkled.”

With a groan, the man dropped her arm and put his face in his hands.

“H-Harry?” Swan squeaked. 

Dropping his hands and giving a put upon sigh, the man said, “The vampires that sparkle release a pheromone which… which works to make their victims feel somewhat docile or calm. Usually, people are only exposed to it in the moments before they die. But if they aren’t immediately killed… the pheromone can become addictive. Bella, how long did you date that guy?”

“Um… six months?”

“Okay. Did you spend any time with his… family? The other vampires?”

“Yeah. A- a lot of time.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Bella, you’re not _ mooning _ over that guy. You’re suffering from vampiric pheromone withdrawal!”

Her lip trembling, she asked, “So I… Are you saying I only love him because of some chemical… _ thing_?”

Mournfully shaking his head, Potter said, “No, no. If that were true, you’d feel the same way about the rest of his family. No, that _ chemical thing _ is the reason you’re not able to process the break-up and move on. I… I know of something that can help you, though.”

“You have a way to make me stop feeling like this?” Swan breathed.

“Not… exactly. It won’t alleviate the withdrawal symptoms. In fact, it will make them worse. The way it works is that it _ speeds up _the process so that the lingering pheromones will be flushed out of your system in a week.”

“It will make me feel _ worse_?” she gasped. “Why on Earth would I want to put myself through _ that_?”

“Because otherwise, the withdrawal will last for _ years_. Seriously, Bella, I’ve heard of the withdrawal symptoms lasting for _ a decade_. Would you rather be out of commission for a week, or barely able to function for _ ten years_?”

“A week,” she immediately replied.

“Good.” With a firm nod, Potter took her arm and began leading her back towards her truck in the parking lot. As they walked, he told her, “When we get home, we’ll talk to Charlie and get you fixed up.”

Her chin trembling, Swan told him, “Charlie doesn’t know about them. T-the Cullens.”

With a deep sigh, the Englishman said, “Oh, Bella, _ really_. Well, he certainly deserves to know _ now_. Don’t worry, I’ll help explain things when we get home.”

“He’s going to be so _ angry_,” she mumbled, looking close to tears.

“Eh. It could be worse. At least you weren’t dating one of the vampires that can only feed on people while they're having sex.”

“_Ugh, _gross.”

“Yeah,” Potter chuckled.

Once they were in the truck and on their way off the reservation, Paul thought, _ Sam, we need to- _

_ We need to call EVERYBODY, _ he agreed. _ You get the rest of the pack, I’ll get the council. _


	7. Chapter 7

Tribal officer Michael Tasi was the first council member who had a chance to weasel out an invitation to the Swan residence.

It had been two weeks since the pack had overheard the conversation between the Swan cousins and then reported it to the counsel. It had also been a week since Charlie had returned to work after taking time off to care for his _ severely ill _ daughter. Officer Tasi and Chief Swan had powwowed about the _ bear attacks _ which had been occurring in the area, and Michael _just happened_ to make an offhand comment to Chief Swan about how some of the bear attacksdidn’t really look like something _ bears _ were responsible for, and then Michael suddenly had an invitation to dinner _ out of uniform _ (and off the record) at the Swan residence.

On the evening that Michael was having diner with the Swans, Paul and Embry were phased and loitering in the woods behind the Swan’s house. The two of them would be able to clearly hear the conversations from inside the house, and as a result so would the rest of the pack. Jacob and Sam were with the council, and they would be able to phase in and out of their wolf forms and relay any information as Paul and Embry heard it. Jared was patrolling the reservation’s borders while the rest of the pack was busy. 

_ Smells good _, Paul thought as he sniffed out the meal that was being prepared inside the house.

_ Like heaven, _ Jared agreed as he looped around a camping area on the rez and checked to make sure that the group of hunters staying there were settling into their site for the evening.

_ I wish we were in that old Peter Pan movie, _ Jacob put in_, the one where imagining the food made it real. _

_ Don’t get distracted_, Sam commanded_. Remember, Emily and Kim will have food waiting for us at my house after we’re finished for the night_.

_ Not even Emily can cook like this_, Paul argued as he took a step closer to the house to get a better sniff at the aroma wafting from an open kitchen window.

_ Paul, back off, don’t let anyone- _

Suddenly, there was a soft but sudden noise nearby, and Paul’s ears popped at a sudden change in air pressure. Shaking off the unusual and highly disconcerting sensation, it took him a moment to realize that Harry Potter was standing _ right next to him_, leaning against a tree and looking at him with the greenest damn eyes Paul had ever seen.

He hadn’t been able to smell the human when Paul last saw him with his cousin on the beach. Not with the rain falling and the wind carrying the human's scent out to the ocean. But now, Paul realized that Harry Potter smelled like _ fresh earth _ and _ east wind_, without any of the normal subtle body odor that humans usually gave off. He smelled _ unnaturally _natural.

_ Dude, did you just imprint on another dude? _ Embry asked.

_ That didn’t SEEM like an imprint_, Jared supplied, giving off the same confused emotions as the rest of his pack mates.

_ Are you gay? How did we not know this? If you're gay, why are you always with girls? You don’t- _Embry was rambling.

_ Ben Lahote would be SO PISSED, _ Jared realized.

_ Get out, get out, get out. He’s going to freak- _Sam was chanting.

Harry Potter didn’t freak out, though. Instead, he gave Paul an easy smile as he stated, “Bella made an entire turkey for dinner. I made the soup and bread - Mrs. Weasley’s recipes, of course. And Officer Tasi brought dessert. You should come inside and join us for dinner.”

Then, as casual as could be, the young man began making his way back to the house.

_ Don’t you dare,_ Jacob was snarling.

_ Fuck that. I’m having turkey and Weasley soup_, Paul snarled back just before he phased. Behind him, further in the forest and safely hidden from view of the house, Embry whimpered as Paul hastily pulled on his shorts and started after Potter.

When Paul let himself into the house, Bella Swan blinked stupidly at Paul from where she stood at the open refrigerator, her hand frozen half an inch from a stick of butter.

Potter hardly looked Paul’s way as he took a set of dishes from the cabinets and handed them to Paul, commanding, “Help Michael set the table and let Charlie know the turkey’s ready for carving.”

In the dining room, Paul relayed the message to Charlie and began setting out the plates while Tasi finished pouring water into glasses.

“You’ll be eating with us then, Paul?” Michael asked uneasily.

“Harry invited me,” he affirmed.

As food was brought to the table along with an additional glass for Paul, Paul glanced between Harry Potter, Bella Swan, and Chief Swan.

Bella seemed at ease in a way she hadn’t been in the entire time Paul had known her - or known _of_ her. Already there was more color in her cheeks than that day on the beach, she’d gained a bit of weight, and although her smiles were by no means _ common_, they were real and nothing like the twitchy grimaces which Jacob was used to seeing.

Charlie was visibly uneasy, most of his attention on Officer Tasi as he clearly contemplated how to tell the man _ I suspect all of these mysterious deaths were caused by vampires_.

Harry Potter was something else entirely. He was calm and at ease, more focused on the food he was piling on his plate than on the tension filled people around him. When he caught Paul looking at him, Potter gave him another of those sweet little smiles. 

Damn, it had been a while since Paul had let himself like a guy. Jared had been right about his father - Ben would _ kill him _ if Paul ever brought a guy home to meet dear ol' Dad.

As they all settled into their seats and started eating their food, Paul waited for someone - Charlie or Michael, he assumed - to introduce a topic of conversation to the table. Paul was anticipating something topical, like the latest baseball statistics or-

“So, Paul, was it?” Harry asked. “How long have you been a shapeshifter?”

Charlie choked on the bread he was chewing.

“Michael, are you a shapeshifter, as well?” Harry asked

“What?!” Bella cried.

His spine ramrod straight and his brows furrowed, Michael asked, “How did you know that Paul was a werewolf?” 

“A werewolf?” Charlie repeated, looking to his nephew. “Like your father’s friend? Remus?”

Harry shook his head, saying, “No. Remus is a werewolf, and the Quileutes are _ shapeshifters _ . Remus has lycanthropy, a disease contracted through an infected bite, and he only transforms on the full moon. And when Remus transforms, he turns into _ an animal_ with no way of retaining his human mind except through expensive, complicated potions. _ Shapeshifters _ are people who shift into enhanced animal forms, usually as a means of protecting themselves against certain threats in the magical community. In school, the shapeshifters we learned about were in the Malaysian islands. They turned into massive, incredibly powerful water snakes as a means of protecting their people against the uncommonly _ vicious _ mermaids which inhabit the waters around the islands. There are shapeshifters on almost every continent, and no two communities are the same.”

With a deep, trembling breath, Paul asked, “What the _ fuck _ is going on?"

Making eye contact with Michael Tasi, then Paul, Charlie’s nephew answered, “My name is Harry Potter, and I’m a wizard.”

With a short burst of laughter, Michael asked, “So, what? You knew that Paul was a - a shapeshifter because of _ magic_?”

“Well, yes. _Technically_ speaking,” Harry said, his grin turning nervous for the first time that evening. “I mean, I didn’t have a magical scrying dream which simply gave me the ability to _ know_, or anything like that. But I was out flying one day and I saw Paul and several others transforming in the forest.”

“You were out _f__lying? _” Paul incredulously repeated.

Bella was the one who informed him, “It turns out that witches and wizards actually _ do _ fly around on broomsticks.”

“Charlie?” Michael asked.

“Yeah,” the man said as he nervously ran a hand through his hair. “So the _ real _ reason that I never talked about my father or brother with anyone was because they were wizards, and - Harry? What about the Statute of Secrecy?” 

“Shapeshifters are magical beings and thus have the right to know about the magical community," Harry easily replied.

“Have the _ right_?” Michael repeated.

Harry nodded. “The magical community is kind of… Well guarded. We go to extreme lengths to make sure non-magical beings don’t know about our existance.”

“What about the Cullens?” Bella asked - and Paul blinked when the girl didn’t even stutter at the name as she spoke it. “They’re magical creatures, right? Carlisle's hundreds of years old, and I’m pretty sure that _ they _ didn’t know about witches and wizards.”

“There are always exceptions to the rules,” Harry told his cousin. “And one of those exceptions are Coruscent vampires. Magic is like… it’s like catnip to them. They get high off of it, and they go a little crazy. Like - you said that half the reason Edward Cullen was so interested in you was because your _ blood sang _ to him or some such nonsense, right? It was actually the magic in you that he was drawn to. You don’t have enough magic to be able to perform any spells yourself, but it was enough to get Cullen's attention. Now, if any of those vampires met _ me_, it wouldn’t matter how... in _control_ they are, or how much experience and practice with self-restraint they have, or what sort of _ diet _ they’re on. They’d be after me in a heartbeat, no holds barred. So no, we don’t interact with those kind.”

“But you _ do _ interact with other kinds of vampires?” Paul asked, his eyes narrowed as he recalled the _real_ reason Officer Tasi had wrangled himself an invitation to the house. It was those _other_ kinds of vampires the pack and counsel had questions about.

“Sure,” Harry replied with an ambivalent shrug. “The others have alternative methods of feeding rather than just _ murdering _ or _ turning _ the people they bite, unlike Coruscent vampires. They’re productive and well respected members of the magical community. Werewolves, on the other hand… Werewolves are hated, feared, and ostracized, even though they’re only violent or contagious for one night out of every month.”

“I want to see,” Paul loudly announced.

The other people at the table went silent.

“You want to see _ what_?” Bella finally asked.

Looking at Harry, Paul told him, “I want to see magic.”

With a grin, Harry pulled a stick of wood from his shirtsleeve and flicked it at the food on the table.

Paul had been so distracted by the evening’s revelations that he hadn’t even _ noticed _ that his barely touched food had gone cold. Not until steam began to rise from the now warm food on his plate.

“Now _ that _ is useful,” he declared before returning his attention to his meal with gusto. 

“I can’t believe this,” Michael said, putting his face in his hands.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed as he began to focus on his food, as well. “People always kind of freak out the first time they realize the world is far more strange than they ever thought.”

“At least you’re getting an explanation,” Bella told Michael. “All _ I _ got was a _ Hey, you have a cousin. He’s magic. Now move the furniture so that he and his friends can use the fireplace to travel here from England. _”

Paul… _ remembered _ that night. Or, _Embry_ remembered that night. Vividly. Stealing from Sue’s garden, scrubbing blood off of Bella Swan’s living room floor, leaving the house with Bella and Harry’s friends so that they didn’t have to listen to Harry screaming, but having to stop walking long before _ Embry _ couldn’t hear the screaming without revealing his supernatural abilities- Embry had fucking _nightmares_ about that night.

“They came from England through the fireplace?” Michael asked, his voice strangled and small.

“It’s called traveling by floo,” Charlie informed him with a nod. “My father established the connection as soon as he learned that I was his son - I used to spend every other weekend with him and his family in England, and the floo connection made that possible. Damn convenient form of travel.”

* * *

Harry Potter may have been aware of the fact that they could transform into wolves, but he had no knowledge of their enhanced senses, strength, or their ability to see into each other’s minds.

When Paul asked, “So what _ else _ do you know about us?” Harry only shrugged.

“Every shapeshifting community is different. There are shapeshifters in Africa who aren’t allowed to speak while in their human forms because every word they say is magic, and even saying something like _ Hello, nice to meet you _ is a spell. There’s another community in South America whose members can transfer energy between others of their kind - useful if you find yourself alone while fighting a group of enemies. Then, there’s a community in Russia who can’t transform when they’re in danger, but only when the non-shifting humans of their village are in danger. So, really, besides knowing that you’re shapeshifters, I don’t know a damn thing.”

Harry’s room was strange, and not because of the moving pictures and posters hanging on the walls, or the animal-skin parchments which were scattered across his desk, or the _ bizarre _ broom hanging on the wall above the fireplace, or any of the dozen otherworldly bits and bobs scattered about the space. 

It was because of the _ noise _.

Or the lack of noise, really.

Paul’s superhuman senses allowed him to smell everything, see everything, and _ hear _ everything vividly, to the point that he had painted his bedroom walls a dull grey and he’d removed anything which provided any sort of excess sensory sensation from his room, including the cologne one of his girlfriends had bought him one Christmas and the colorful blue quilt his mother had made for him before she died. After he began phasing, _ anything _ was too much. 

The only thing he hadn’t been able to hide away or block out was the noise. 

In the dead of night, during winter, when it rained, Paul could hear _ everything_. His father snoring from where he’d passed out in the living room, flies buzzing around the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, animals wandering through the muddy yard, people breathing in their cars as they drove past the house, fucking leaves blowing in the wind half a mile away-

In Harry’s room, though, everything was muted. Sure, Paul could hear Michael and Charlie talking downstairs in the living room, and he could hear Bella setting things into the dishwasher in the kitchen, but it was like he was hearing it all though a wall of water. And Paul didn’t hear _ any _ of the noise outside the house. Not the wind in the grass, or the swaying branches of forest trees - he couldn’t even hear Embry restlessly pacing around the house.

It was the first time in over a year that Paul had experienced _ quiet_. 

“What about you?” Paul asked as he settled himself on the couch in front of the fire - because there was a fucking fireplace, even though there was no chimney on this side of the Swan’s house - and looked to where Harry was sprawled out in an overstuffed chair. “I mean, I only found out that I was a wolf a year ago. But you’ve always been a wizard.”

“I suppose,” Harry said, blinking at him. “I mean… I guess I’ve always been able to do magic. I didn’t _ know _ that what I was doing was magic until I was 11, though. It wasn’t like I was making furniture levitate every morning, and I wasn’t transfiguring my cousin’s stuffed toys into live animals or anything. Whenever magic happened, it was sudden, and confusing, and sometimes scary. Then, one day I found out I was a wizard, and everything made sense. That isn’t what it was like when you began transforming?”

With a snort, Paul told him, “Hell no. The day I transformed was the day my life was ruined. I mean, one day I had friends, and I was looking into getting a job, and I was finally starting to get a hang of school, and the next day it all went to hell. I wasn’t allowed to see or talk to my friends because I might hurt them, _ patrolling _ became my job, and I missed two entire months of school while getting control of my shifting. I mean, I’d raised my grade point average to a 3.0. I thought that by the time I graduated, I’d have _ respectable _ grades, and I might be able to go to college. Instead, I had to fucking _ repeat _ a year, then drop out entirely when the red headed leech showed up.”

“It was the opposite for me,” Harry told him. “Before I found out I was a wizard… I didn’t have much of anything. I had no friends, I didn’t do well in school, and my family… Charlie _ tried _ to keep in contact with me. But it wasn’t until after I was told that I was a wizard that I truly discovered my family, and I had more friends than I knew what to do with, and the possibilities… they seemed endless. At first, anyways. Finding out that I was a wizard was the _ best _ day of my life. For a while, it was even the happiest.”

“You were _ born _ a wizard, though, right?” Paul pressed. At Harry’s nod, he explained, “I _ wasn’t _ born a shifter. The transformation is triggered by the proximity of those blood suckers. Before I started transforming, I had plans to get out of my father’s house, to go to college, and to _ do _ something with myself.”

“Ah,” Harry finally breathed. “That’s the true difference, then. When you transformed for the first time, your world became smaller. When I found out I was a wizard, my world became limitless.” 

Paul understood. In the quiet of Harry’s magic room, in Chief Swan’s house a mere ten miles from the reservation border, he was learning about magic. And with Harry, the possibilities _ did _ seem limitless.


	8. Chapter 8

“It wasn’t an imprint,” Sam explained as he lifted Billy, chair and all, up the front steps of the porch and pushed him into Sam and Emily’s house. “It wasn’t instant or binding, or… I don’t know… overwhelming. Paul didn’t just _ forget _ about the rest of the world. But… Jared and I have been phasing with him for over a year, and he’s never even had a stray _ thought _ about liking guys.”

“His father would kill him,” Billy reminded him.

“Right,” Sam agreed. “But when Paul saw Harry Potter, he stopped _ caring _ about what his father would think. He stopped caring about what _ any _ of us thought. It was like, instantly, he knew that Potter would be worth it. But at the same time, it _ wasn’t _an imprint.”

“Maybe imprints work differently when happens with another magical person?” Embry suggested as he followed Billy and Sam into the living room and threw himself onto the couch. “I wonder if imprinting exists in those other shifter communities.”

Billy ran a tired, agitated hand over his eyes.

Things had been crazy enough when the council realized that the legends about wolves were true. However, after the night that Officer Tasi and Paul had eaten dinner at the Swan residence, the tribe had been thrown into utter chaos at the revelation that there was an extensive magical community which they had no idea existed, and that the legends they depended on to explain what was happening to them didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the reality of the situation.

“I suppose we can ask Harry when he and the Swans get here," Billy concluded.

Old Quill had thrown a fit when Michael Tasi suggested they invite Potter and the Swans to visit the reservation and meet with the council and the pack. Harry Clearwater had been the one to point out that Potter was already visiting the reservation every other day, he was quickly becoming a well-liked member of the community, and it was ridiculous to keep the pack away from him when he knew more about what they were going through than even they did.

“Hey, Jared!” Embry suddenly called towards the kitchen. “Add imprinting to the list!”

Smacking Embry over the head, Sam said, “Stop yelling and go help Jared and the girls with the food.”

Embry did as Sam commanded even as he pouted. Sam took advantage of the free couch by collapsing into it.

“What is this list?” Billy absently asked as he craned his neck to look into the kitchen. He was surprised to see members of the pack helping the girls mix salad and cut fruit and vegetables. They usually only set hands on the grill - although apparently, Paul was taking reign of the grill that afternoon. He wanted to show off for Potter, Jacob said.

“It’s a list of questions everyone wants to ask. Emily suggested we write it down so that we don’t forget anything or get overexcited and ask too many questions at once.”

“Funny, Sue Clearwater had a similar idea,” Billy said dryly. “The council meeting last night consisted of brainstorming questions and making an orderly Q&A worksheet for Harry to fill out.”

Sam chuckled. “Kim’s in charge of keeping ours.”

Charlie arrived at Sam’s house at 1:00 on the dot.

“Where are Bella and Harry?” Billy asked when Charlie let himself into the house.

“They should be on their way. Harry wanted to do some shopping in Seattle this morning, and he took Bella with him.”

“Seattle?” Jared asked. “I didn’t think Bella’s old truck could handle that drive.”

“They didn’t drive,” Charlie corrected. “Harry’s broom moves pretty fast. They flew.”

“Ah,” Jared said flatly, his doubt and disbelief plain to see. Billy understood - even with Paul explaining everything he knew and everything he'd seen at the Swan's house the night of that dinner, and even though the pack could see his memories of the visit... it was simply _too unreal_ for anyone to believe without seeing it for themselves.

“How are they doing, then?” Billy pressed.

“Bella’s fantastic,” Charlie brightly replied. “The potion Harry gave her was horrific at first. She was making herself sick, it was so bad. But hardly a week later, I had my daughter back. And I don’t mean the daughter who dated that Cullen boy, I mean the girl she was _ before_. I hadn’t even realized how much of her behavior wasn’t _ her _ when he was around. I thought she was just… a teenage girl being a teenage girl.”

“We didn’t know the impact vampires had on humans, either,” Billy informed him. “Beyond the obvious, of course. If we’d known, we never would have agreed to any treaty.”

“At least they’re gone now,” Charlie grumbled. “I respected Carlisle, but I never much cared for the rest of his family. He was the only one who ever made any real effort to contribute to the community. The rest of them just… coasted on the good will Carlisle garnered.” 

Billy nodded. He’d never disliked communicating with Carlisle Cullen, even after learning what the man was. The vampire was respectful, and he never begrudged the Quillets their dislike of his kind - he seemed to _ encourage _ their distrust, even when he did nothing to earn it himself. He never pretended that he was safe or harmless. He never refused the truth of what he was. The others seemed to use their “vegetarian lifestyle” as a shield, though.

“Do you suppose your nephew might be able to give Sue the recipe for alleviating that pheromone-”

Billy was interrupted by a sudden commotion in the backyard.

“That will be Harry and Bella,” Charlie announced with a wry smile as he stood from the couch and moved to push Billy through the kitchen and out onto the back porch.

Billy watched with wide eyes as Charlie’s nephew and daughter took several turns around the yard atop a flying wooden broomstick. Harry made several sharp turns moments before the pair would have been sent crashing into trees or the ground, and then did several rolls midair as Bella laughed gleefully.

“Show off,” Charlie muttered with a roll of his eyes. Then, “Harry! On the ground, now! I _do not_ need to watch you perform acrobatics with my daughter!”

Bella was still giggling when Harry touched down - Billy couldn’t remember hearing any such sound from her the entire time she’d been in Forks. As she peeled away from Harry’s back and neatly dismounted the broom - she’d clearly been flying with her cousin many times before to be so comfortable getting on and off the broom - Billy saw that she was wearing a leather jacket with a hood and goggles. _Of course, because it was chilly up in the sky, and they wouldn’t want to get windburn_-

“Me next!” Embry demanded as he bound across the lawn to where Harry had touched down on the broom, just as other members of the pack and council began to gather around.

“Now wait one minute,” Officer Tasi demanded. “As a law enforcement official and member of the council, it’s my responsibility to make sure it’s safe-”

“Back!” Sue Clearwater cried. “All of you get back! Food first, then business, then you can bother him about flying around on a - on a broom! After we’ve eaten!”

Laughing, Harry pulled down his hood and removed his goggles, revealing his wild black hair, bright green eyes, wind burnt cheeks, and a bright smile. “Is lunch ready? I’m starving! We brought pastries from the bakery we ate at for breakfast - Bella, Cuz, where’s the bag with our things?”

Bella was halfway across the lawn, making her way towards Charlie. She lifted her arm, signaling that the small blue handbag was secured around her wrist even as she continued towards Charlie.

“How was Seattle?” Charlie asked as Bella hurried up to him.

“Dad, it was _ amazing_! There were three city blocks just for wizards and magic hidden right in the middle of the city! We could see non-magical people five feet from us, but they had no idea we were there! And the shops - they were wild. And we went to a wizarding bank - it was run by _ goblins_. They were _ terrifying_.”

Harry, who had caught up with his cousin, detached the small bag and pulled it from Bella's wrist.

Billy watched with wide eyes as Harry reached into the tiny thing and pulled out one, then two, then _ seven more _ huge boxes stamped with writing that _ moved _across the surface of the boxes.

“- and he bought me a dress - even _ men _ in the magical world wear dresses-”

“They’re _robes_,” Harry muttered as he struggled to manage the boxes of pastries. Then, with a muttered curse, he pulled a stick of wood from his sleeve, flicked it at the boxes, and they instantly lifted from his hands and gently floated into the house. Inside the kitchen, someone cried out in surprise.

“-and Harry drank a potion that made him look _ exactly _ like you-”

“_Excuse me?_” Charlie hissed, his expression darkening and his eyes narrowing as they fell upon his nephew.

“Well I didn't want to risk anyone recognizing me!” Harry cried. "This stupid mark on my face makes people care about me for stupid reasons!"

Overwhelmed by the onslaught of strange new information, Billy held up his hands and declared, “Enough! I think Sue had it right when she said we need to eat and talk. And we aren't going to start the meal off with an argument.”

Even as the group turned to make their way to the tables on the lawn, Bella was opening her mouth to continue talking at Charlie.

Strangely, it was _ Paul _ who rescued the situation, appearing in front of Harry and holding a plate out towards him. “Tenderloin with special sauce, the way my grandfather used to make it,” he announced.

Billy gaped - he _ remembered _ those tenderloins and that special sauce - he thought the recipe had died with Paul’s mother.

“Thanks, Paul,” Harry told the wolf with a dazzling smile. “This looks amazing! Are you going to eat with me, or-”

Then, Paul was hurrying Harry towards the tables, Jacob was helping Billy to the lawn, and everyone was settling in for a meal.


End file.
